Awful. What's not helping is when people - especially celebs - say that addition is a disease. Bullcrap. Cancer, lupus, the flu, those are diseases that people get without choosing to do so. But if one gets hooked on something, it's entirely within their power to stop. This is coming from someone who was addicted to chewing tobacco for 20 years. My addiction wasn't a disease, it was a damned stupid choice I kept making every day for a long time. Took a while to stop, but I did it, and now dip-free for coming up on 5 years. Thinking of it as a 'disease' would remove personal culpability for my actions, which is the downside of all this celebrity 'it's not your fault' crap that's doing way more harm than good.

Eismann wrote:Awful. What's not helping is when people - especially celebs - say that addition is a disease. Bullcrap. Cancer, lupus, the flu, those are diseases that people get without choosing to do so. But if one gets hooked on something, it's entirely within their power to stop. This is coming from someone who was addicted to chewing tobacco for 20 years. My addiction wasn't a disease, it was a damned stupid choice I kept making every day for a long time. Took a while to stop, but I did it, and now dip-free for coming up on 5 years. Thinking of it as a 'disease' would remove personal culpability for my actions, which is the downside of all this celebrity 'it's not your fault' crap that's doing way more harm than good.

And as usual, an innocent kid suffers.

The flip side of this is that mental illness is a disease, and unfortunately people with mental illness are far more prone to addictions. I completely agree that addiction itself isn't a mental illness. Part of the issue is the stigma against mental illness in this country, and unfortunately people who are mentally ill don't get treatment when they need it and often end up addicted.

Eismann wrote:Awful. What's not helping is when people - especially celebs - say that addition is a disease. Bullcrap. Cancer, lupus, the flu, those are diseases that people get without choosing to do so. But if one gets hooked on something, it's entirely within their power to stop. This is coming from someone who was addicted to chewing tobacco for 20 years. My addiction wasn't a disease, it was a damned stupid choice I kept making every day for a long time. Took a while to stop, but I did it, and now dip-free for coming up on 5 years. Thinking of it as a 'disease' would remove personal culpability for my actions, which is the downside of all this celebrity 'it's not your fault' crap that's doing way more harm than good.

And as usual, an innocent kid suffers.

I'm having trouble agreeing with this after watching my dad drink himself to death...

Eismann wrote:Awful. What's not helping is when people - especially celebs - say that addition is a disease. Bullcrap. Cancer, lupus, the flu, those are diseases that people get without choosing to do so. But if one gets hooked on something, it's entirely within their power to stop. This is coming from someone who was addicted to chewing tobacco for 20 years. My addiction wasn't a disease, it was a damned stupid choice I kept making every day for a long time. Took a while to stop, but I did it, and now dip-free for coming up on 5 years. Thinking of it as a 'disease' would remove personal culpability for my actions, which is the downside of all this celebrity 'it's not your fault' crap that's doing way more harm than good.

And as usual, an innocent kid suffers.

I'm having trouble agreeing with this after watching my dad drink himself to death...

That's terrible, I wish it didn't happen, and I don't know the circumstances.

My three great uncles who smoked and drank themselves to death before age 60 were mentally competent, stupid and knew exactly what they were doing. As are millions of people with self-destructive behaviors of all kinds right now.

For the love of what ever people find valuable: if you know you're doing something destructive, stop it now. And if you think you can't, get help. Now.

What helped me stop dipping was something a veteran quitter said: you don't want to be sitting in hospital bed with poisons coursing through your veins in a last-ditch attempt to save your life, and having to look your kid/husband/wife in the eye and tell them you got there because you didn't want to stop doing what is was that put you there.

Never really heard of her before. Feel awful for her kids, but apparently she's attempted suicide like 5 times, including once when she was pregnant. Any sympathy for her goes straight out the window. Congrats on having success this time.